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Maple salmon

9/30/2014

Tonight I wanted to cook real food for supper.... you know, from scratch more or less. :)

To that end I went down to the freezer and discovered some salmon fillets. WOOT WOOT! Salmon for supper, query though, how to prepare it? I wanted something that I was fairly sure our Brazilian student would eat (he likes salty, not too sweet, meat and fish is Good very good). :)

I went to all recipes and found this... Maple Salmon. Soy sauce in it, so it'll be a touch salty and just a bit of maple syrup so that would intrigue me and hubby dear. :)

I almost forgot to take a pic, this was what was on my son's plate. :)

How to make it: (my changes in red)

Directions

In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, garlic salt, and pepper.
Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once. Brevity of time had me shorten the marinating time. NOTE: letting it marinate longer would be good. :)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork. I accidentally cooked with lid on until I flipped the pieces, didn't seem to matter though. :)

End result?
My ever so cautious about trying new foods student LIKED IT! oh my.. he had seconds and thirds. He didn't eat the peas (totally expected that as he doesn't eat much in the way of veggies)...but he loved the sauce and the rice and the salmon. WOOT WOOT! I have another dish I can feed him! (grin)

Hubby agreed: Good food.
Son.. well.. the lad tends NOT to like anything new and this was NO, I don't want it. What did you do with the rice mom? It's not white! But he ate it and didn't say it was completely terrible...he tried hard to negotiate his way out of eating it though. :)
Me: I will make this again, but will plan to let it marinate longer. :)

How it looked in the pan (after we took some out)

My goal is to link up at Home to 4 Kiddos.

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Our week, reviewed

9/27/2014

Our week went a bit different than anticipated. Monday we headed to London early so we didn't do a lot of schooling beyond "lad, make sure you do your page in our reading book". (which he did in the car on the way to London).

The lad complained mightily about the need to do so until he chilled out and just did it. They take perhaps 5 minutes to do per page and he totally gets to choose what page he does, so it does work for him. He loves it if I do the reading for him, so when he does it in the car it takes that aspect away from him. :) (sneaky aren't I?) :)

The remainder of Monday was filled with hanging out with Gramma and going to see some friends of him with her. They had a whole lot of fun together.

Tuesday, oh my what did we do Tuesday oh right.. we did computer work. UberSmart (fives times tables are now down pat, working on 6x's). CTC Math (Mom, I'm starting to understand division now!), Picking our hymn of the week and listening to it play through via YouTube. This week we are doing Rock of Ages.

Ah, we also started to work on the lad's "Boy Shed". It took us a couple of days to get it complete, but today he was able to move most of his bug containers out into it. Took him a full hour to do it, which earned him more time on the xbox. :) It was really sweet of some friends of our to give him a couple of shelves to put up in it for storage. I may need to make him another shelf as well, he's waiting to see how it all fits in well.

On Wednesday we were unexpectedly called into to work at the Food Bank. We've been wanting to help out there for a while now, and well... we got our chance. We were able to help stock shelves, sort for expired food items, and generally make ourselves very useful. The lad asked "When can we go again mom? Can we go every week?". So I may look into doing that. :) I have to admit to being a bit hesitant to commit to going every single week so I need to talk with the organizers for a bit and see how we work it if he's ill or we need to be away or just what we can do.

When we got home we did some work onMapping with Art. We did another map, this one of the Nile River, I'll have to link that in later as right now I am not sure where I downloaded it to. :) We also did some work out of our bible books.

I know we did something on Thursday.. book work i think, and finished up our mapping (doing compass and protractor work). Then I just needed to get away from it all for a bit so I headed out for the afternoon. The lad and his dad hung out at home together and I just got away. I tried to find some dress pants but nothing suit me well and the salesperson was grumpy so I said "fine" and just left. Had a nice talk with hubby's mom for a bit so that made it worthwhile. :)

Friday was HOPE days so we headed off for that. I'm teaching a class on survival skills and yesterday was our fire day. :) The children had so much fun learning how to light a fire, first with a flint and steel and then with matches. They learned to make a signal fire and a small heat fire. They really wanted to roast marshmallows but the church we were at wanted small fires not a bigger one.

Overall it was a good week. I'll be linking up this post over atLisa's.

Open in my Browser this week

9/26/2014

I have WAY too many tabs open in my browser and I really need to close some of them but thought for a moment I jot them down as I do need to remember them.

Fascinating Education - Chemistry. This is a review that I am doing FOR ME. Not for my son. Just for me. I like chemistry but I struggled with it at times in Highschool, and now I get to look at it with fresh eyes. :) There will be a review coming down the road.

Adventure Hollow grabbed my attention this week with this "free to Canadian Educators" post. Why.. Because I"m Canadian! :) So if YOU are Canadian, perhaps you want to check it out as well. :)

A friend of mine had a daughter do some viking knitting, that caused me to look up right what that was and that led me to this youtube video.

This post on OPENLIBRARY.COM interested me.. enough that I'll be linking it on one of my pages on my website here.

I can't remember who recommended this book to me 50 Christians you'd want to know, but it intrigues me, I just haven't ordered it yet...Christmas is coming you know. :)

I'm teaching a class on survival to a group of 9-12 year olds, so I have some tabs open from that research.   16 uses for plastic sheeting.    This pinterest board on survival skills.    And The Survival Mom.

Homeschool Giveaways Has this huge link page for learning about pigs.    I'll be pinning this to my nature study board.     They also have this list on the Animal Kingdom.

Lucan Area Donnelly Museum.   A local museum focusing on a sad part of history in this area.

The science behind baking the right chocolate chip cookie continues to intrigue me. :)

Last but not least is Doors Open London.    It's on this weekend. The last time we did this we had a lot of fun exploring places in London. :)

Five Minute Friday: Because

9/26/2014

The rules are simple: Write for five minutes on a given word prompt. Link up and then....Also, the most important rule is that you visit the blog of the person who linked up before you and leave some encouragement. That’s the most fun of all, and the heart of this community.

Today's word is because.

click image to go to source: heading home

three, two, one go.. 1008
So here I am, 1000 o'clock at night and hubby says "just what are you doing? I responded to him.. My five miinute Friday post.. Ah.. that. So what's the word this week?

Because.

What?

"Because" I repeated

His response was "Oh.. so that'll be easy".

I said Yeah, my problem will be ON NOT writing for more than five minutes.
Why? Because. :)

Because... sometimes it's just the shortest answer.
Why don't you want to do this? Because.
Why because?
Simply because. Do I NEED to give a reason?

In this house... we've learned that sometimes because is just because.
We might not always want to say, or sometimes we just can't say.
Sometimes we can't do something, or don't want to go somewhere, just because.

I asked a friend to do something today.. totally giving her the option out. ... and you know what she said "I can't, just because".   She looked like she wanted to give an excuse I said.. it's doesn't matter. If it doesn't work, because is good enough.

it makes me wonder... do we always need to offer an excuse?
Can't because BE enough?
Because can encompass so much. Feelings, thoughts, a desire not to hurt someone's feelings, because sometimes just needs to be enough. Don't you think?

AND STOP cause.. it's 1013 (even if I DO have much more more I could say).   LOL.

Have a lovely day all! :)   Just well.. Because you CAN.

Hymn Study: Rock of Ages

9/24/2014

Rock of Ages

Text: Augustus M. Toplady, 1740-1778
Music: Thomas Hastings, 1784-1872

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from it's guilt and power

Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law's demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgement throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee

This video below is the closest I got to the version we have. They change the last line of the first verse just a bit.

Augustus M. Toplady, 1740-1778
Born in 1740 with a Marine father who died early in his life so he was raised by his mother.
Converted into a Methodist church, he read the 39 Articles of the Church of England and become a member of the Church of England.
Staunch Calvinist, fiercely and sometimes in a less than positive manner, defending this doctrine including the doctrine of election.   Had an ongoing feud with John Wesley.
Died at a young age (38) from tuberculois or frail health.
"Toplady had calculated that a fifty year old man in his lifetime would be guilty of; one billion, five hundred and seventy-six million, eight hundred thousand sins. He quite rightly argued that it was humanly impossible for anyone to pay off such a staggering debt of iniquity. Therefore, sinners must needs avail themselves of the mercy and pardon of the Lord Jesus, who died upon the Cross to 'redeem us from the curse of the law.'"   (online hymnal)

Rock of Ages, why written.
Popular story is that it was written one while Toplady was sheltering from a storm while inside a cave.    This may or may not be true. He may have been inspired by other hymns of the day.

Scripture:
Psalms 18.2:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Sources:
EnsignMessage. The Telegraph.   OnLine Hymnal.    Challies. Biblical Resouce Database.   Discipleship Ministries.

Virtues - boy virtues to be precise

9/23/2014

You know, I was almost going to call this post "vice - boy vices to be precise" when I realized that vices usually refer to NEGATIVE or WICKED behaviours that eradicating would be a good notion. I don't think a love of bugs is vice, it's a virtue. Really.

My boy has these areas, dedicated to his love of bugs, toads and fish. Looks like it should be enough yes?.

isn't this bug neat mom?

Toads, Can I keep this one???

Annette, Can your son raise these catfish for me? PLEASE....

The lad has overtime, expanded his area to include this.

Mom, you don't understand. This table works better for me. I can keep everything here. You don't need it. We can play games upstairs we can mom.

This particular long white table is meant to be a games and puzzle table. A place we can set things up and leave them out if we are in the middle of a game, or wanting to work on a puzzle or whatever. Can't do that as you might guess. ALL these games (below) are now just kinda sitting there and are occasionally brought upstairs to be played with but then immediately have to disappear again.

To that end, since I needed to dissemble some racks and what not and had some spare wood that needed using instead of just dumping somewhere I though to meself... why not build the lad a quick shed that he can use for all his buggy, snakey, crittery stuff. In the summer he'll be able to collect all the bugs he wants. He'll be able to overwinter them there as well as he can collect containers of leaves and make his bugs all snuggly for the winter which means they won't hatch early either. :) AND... I WILL HAVE MY TABLE BACK. Won't that be delightful again?

To that end, today we made EXCELLENT progress on a building a boy shed.

It was an unseasonably hot today today, so we got tired by mid-afternoon... we kept slogging away though (but our talking got less animated). :)

One side done. one shelf in, and the lad called it quits. He was too tired and hot and we did TOO much physical work today mom. Just too much. :)

The tarp was donated to us. It was supposed to be the cover for a 10 x 10 shed but it's a couple of heavy duty side pieces with window cutouts... perfect for a bug shed don't you think? The bugs need good air flow to be happy.

The other side done as well (hubby and I got it finished).

It's not a great shed, but it will be a good bug shed. All we have left to do is build a shelf for storage, put another piece of plywood on the back and do something to make the entrance a bit more snow proof. It's a work in progress.

That plywood on the end will go on the bottom and I have a small piece that will fit up top.

The expensive part of this shed in the plywood we put on the roof. Man.. $35 was not quite in my budget for this shed but it needed to be spent to do it decent enough for the winter. A bit over five feet on the short side and almost 6 feet on the other. Good room for a child to grow into or to be salvaged into a tool/lawn mower shed down the road.

We are going to add another layer of dirt inside to make it more even (we have loads of dirt right now from the pond being dug out). But it will do don't you think?

So have you made a good outside area for your children to use for their hobbies (if they are outside related?) If so, let me know, I'd love to check them out. :)

I will link up with the following linkys. :)

Five Minute Friday: Hold

9/19/2014

920 pm.   GO.
I am not a person who finds faith an easy process.
I struggle ... it seems daily with assurance of my salvation, and there are those who say that means that I am not truly saved.
Those words don't help.
I know it's a besetting sin for me and that I MUST actively fight against this doubt within myself.
Having a regular devotional time is a HUGE help for me. Like seriously a HUGE help.

But the biggest help for me?
This verses I've pictured above.   These are my life verses.
Can you see... the HOLD that God places.
HE calls me.
HE proclaims me to be his people.
He's the one who has called me out of the dark into his marvelous light.
GOD calls me his own.
He does.

He has put a HOLD on my life. He holds me.

And that is my reassurance.
That is what "I" hold to.

On my own I'm just this lost, ever so imperfect sheep wandering about bawing for someone to come and help me out.   But GOD calls me and holds me and tells that I am his people.   Chosen by him.   Part of his priesthood, part of a holy nation.

And I am reassured.

What holds you?
925 p.m. STOP

A different week this

9/18/2014

Last week was a busy book work type week, and this week was just so different. The weather has been lovely so we worked with it. :) Oh indeedy. The lad needed to use his muscles and it was good. :)

We are in process of getting rid of the old pond/garden area. It will take some time to get it all down, but you see the missing stones? What? You can't see them? That's good. Cause you see they are now over here:

You see putting in a wall will make it easier to know where the lawn ends and where the garden begins. Makes it easier to weed and water and mind the correct plants. Our plans are to extend the bricks around all our bushes and trees so as to make it easier all round for everyone to mow lawns and help with the weeding. :)

Our "burn the nasty weeds after they dry" pile continues to grow. It's actually getting large enough I'm seriously considering just bundling it up and taking it all to the dump Then it's all gone once and for all. The dump will take it free of charge as well.

My son's real life experiment of see how the water runs to keep it from flowing into the pond experiment worked well. I had to offer a bit of help with it to get him going and watching where the water was going, but overall...looks better to have the patio clean after we moved the huge pile of dirt from digging out the new pond.

Ah.. my lovely hay.. all ready for my bunnies and piggies to munch on over the winter. Think they will be pleased??? Smells absolutely wonderful too. :) The lad worked hard helping to man-handled these bales. Hubby helped me bring them into the backyard and that was good. But stacking them... that was all me and the lad. :) Good thing I grew up on a farm eh?

The shed is in much better shape too can't you tell? Organized, tidy, and workable. We shouldn't have a lot of a debris floating around the yard this winter by the time I'm all done here. :) i do need to find room for one emergency rabbit cage in here yet, still not sure where to put it but God will help me sort it out in my brain....

Anyways, that's a wrap up of our homeschooling week. Lots of hard work and thinking, and inbetween it all the lad.. did a smattering of math (on the computer and at the market), he did a bit of science (gardening, snake catching/feeding, frog catching, pond watching (we can see our fish swim), and standard deviants on the computer, we did our normal amounts of reading and did a lot of just on hands learning this week. It's good to have an excellent helper in a nine year old. Good learning and good work.

Be Encouraged, Homeschool Parents

9/14/2014

The crew round-up for this week is called "Books to encourage the Homeschool Mom". I read the topic and thought to myself.. what on earth could I possible write for that? And then I recalled short book written by a member of my homeschool group. Laurie wrote this book to encourage her fellow homeschooling parents.

It's not a horribly long book, if you sat down to read straight through and read at an average speed you should get it done in a night or possibly two. :) Me.. I read fast so it's hard to judge sometimes how long a book might take.

But if you take your time, you will be encouraged. You will gain thoughts that might assist you in your journey. So check it out, I've included the link for your convenience below.

I remember when I started my journey someone in the group lent me a book about homeschooling myths. It was written in a humourous style and just caused me to relax. I can't remember the name, but the gal who loaned it to me said it was the book she loaned EVERYONE who was embarking on this journey and how much it helped folks just to chill and realize that it is a journey that we take with our children and people won't understand it, and we won't understand it and it's okay. And it really is. :) Sorry I can't recall the name or the author (it's been a few years now). :)

But you know what it the greatest encouragement for me?

click to go to link: google play ESV bible

it's what refines my goals.
It's what reminds me of what my true calling is.
It's what binds me together with other homeschoolers.
It's God's word.
When it comes right down to it, God's word is the most encouragement I get from ANYTHING that I read.

It inspires me.
It pushes me.
It's tells me I can do better with my schooling, with my life, with my "you name it".
God leads me on all the time.

Books are good.
I've looked through the well-trained mind, I've read books on how to homeschool, I've been encouraged by "Pinecones", and other books, but it's God's word that spurs me on the most and makes me question my decisions and supports my long-term goals. And makes me realize how imperfect I really am. So I know it's okay. I don't have to be perfect.... I just have to keep moving on and trust him to mind the rest.

So tell me.. what encourages you? Have you read books lately that I can check out? Would be kinda neat to know what they are. :) OH! And if you want to know what books have encouraged other homeschool parents, check back on the 17th to read more. You can GO HERE to do so. :)

Review: The Car Thief

9/13/2014

A coming to age book, this is a book about a young man as he struggles through the teenage years to become an adult.

About the book:
It’s 1959. Sixteen year-old Alex Housman has just stolen his fourteenth car and frankly doesn’t know why. His divorced, working class father grinds out the night shift at the local Chevy Plant in Detroit, looking forward to the flask in his glove compartment, and the open bottles of booze in his Flint, Michigan home.

About the author:
Theodore Weesner, born in Flint, Michigan, is aptly described as a “Writers’ Writer” by the larger literary community. His short works have been published in the New Yorker, Esquire, Saturday Evening Post, Atlantic Monthly and Best American Short Stories. His novels, including The True Detective, Winning the City and Harbor Light, have been published to great critical acclaim in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Harper’s, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, Boston Magazine and The Los Angeles Times to name a few.

Weesner is currently writing his memoir, two new novels, and an adaptation of his widely praised novel—retitled Winning the City Redux—also to be published by Astor + Blue Editions. He lives and works in Portsmouth, NH.

My Review

Well, I have to admit, I promised to read this book in order to do the review, but I did not find it an easy read. The book was rather depressing.   The main character was just so bleak. And I can understand.. his father was a drunk, he felt directionless, and like nothing he did mattered.   He did things without really wanting to and ended up in juvie for a while due to being a car thief.

It was a book filled with the sadness of a child separated from his mother, having his brother removed from his home, dealing with the results of being a thief, being a bit of creepy kid following girls around, dealing with hormones of being a teenager, finally recognizing that he was a lot like his father.   He joined the army and needed to deal with his father's suicide right before he went to live at the army. And somehow he knew that being part of the army was the right move.

I didn't like the book.

I found it too... internally focused in a protagonist who didn't really know what he was thinking or doing. His answer to most any question of why was "I don't know".   And it was just so pointless.

So many kids deal with alcoholic parents...and it's hard for them. I GET THAT. But the ones I know don't live in a world of "I don't know".   It just seemed so hard for him to get beyond that, to finally learn a few things about himself so that he could get on with living his life.

It was good by the end of the book that he seemed to get there .... but I was left wondering if being in the army would kick him out of the "i don't know's" that he seemed to dwell in.

Other people may like the book better than I did so if you like the brooding, dwelling within yourself, first person narration try out this book.

If you like more positive characters and more deliberation in action you may wish to give this one a pass.

Product Details
Name: The Car Thief
Received: Trade paperback, the uncorrected proof
Price: $8.99 from Astor+Blue
Age Range: Highschool to adult
Publisher: Astor + Blue Editions.
Reviewed for: Astor + Blue.
Pages: 386